Fiery Rescue
by pikaace
Summary: One-shot. Spike's most recent bounty isn't going well and gets him caught in a building that is quickly burning to the ground. Only Ein, the data dog with the smarts and instincts can save him. Will Ein succeed, or will both Spike and Ein end up burnt to a crisp?


**Relax relax it's just a one-shot to entertain you guys, nothing serious! I swear I'm working on my other stories! With Spring Break coming up I'll have more than enough time to update!**

**I just wanted to test how I write Cowboy Bebop. That, and Ein doesn't get enough spotlight! Seriously, I wanted more Ein-centric episodes! They have a dog with all the information in the world and they don't use him! But really, I'd like your input in case I want to do more Bebop stories in the future. Enjoy!**

* * *

Sometimes Spike had no idea how he got into these situations. He had been chasing a bounty head worth about 3 million woolongs for arson and bombing. Spike learned very quickly that the guy was a bit a pyro having needed to avoid flamethrowers and the like.

Spike was now inside a TV studio and a large one at that; almost every room he ran through had a different setting from jungle to desert. He eventually ran into a large room that was set up as some kind of aviation station as there were multiple fake life-sized planes.

Spike got to the middle of the room when he heard the bounty's laughter. He drew his pistol looking for the madman when he felt a blast of heat nearby. He turned just in time to see part of the room was now on fire and spreading quickly. He heard the bounty's laughter again and looked down just in time to see a grenade stop right at his feet. Spike bolted away from it but that didn't save him from the brunt of the explosion.

Spike flew against the wall as the explosion allowed more of the flammable objects in the room to catch on fire. Spike tried to get up but grimaced and put a hand on his side; the injury wasn't bloody, but it was burned really badly. Spike got up, still gripping his side and trying to ignore the other burns on his body; he could hear more bombs going off above and below him, "Shit…he's gonna take down the entire building!" Spike said to no one.

He looked began to look around while making the mistake of breathing in a cloud of smoke. Spike coughed roughly while he realized that the building had absolutely no windows; if he wanted to get out he would have to go all the way through the building and he had blindly ran through to probably the highest floor in the place.

Spike continued to cough as he made his way towards the door, narrowly avoiding some falling set pieces. The fire had spread to the entire room now and outside the room wasn't much better. The entire building seemed to glow with a flickering orange light of death. Spike tried not to breathe in the smoke as he stumbled down the burning hallway; Jet was going to kill him if he got out of this.

* * *

"Walking walking walkey walk walking!" Ed sang as she pranced through the streets with Ein at her side. The two had been cooped up in the Bebop all day and wanted some fresh air; that and Faye was getting irritated of their constant noise and wanted some peace and quiet. Ein really did enjoy taking long walks with Ed; they could go wherever they pleased without a care in the world and it was nice to spend time with someone who actually understood him. Ein did care for the other members of the Bebop crew but Ed was the one he really liked.

Ein's thoughts were then interrupted when his nose twitched; there was a faint smell of smoke in the air. Ed seemed to notice Ein's alert as she stopped walking, "What is it Ein?" she asked. Ein let out a bark and Ed turned around to see a huge pillar of smoke rising into the air.

"Oooh! Smokey smokey!" she said in amazement, but Ein wasn't impressed; he had a really strong feeling that something was wrong. Why? Because when there was destruction of property around, it usually meant Spike. But what made the Corgi worried was the fact that there wasn't an explosion prior to the smoke like Spike's usual bounty chases; Ein's instincts were screaming at him as he comprehended the possible situation taking place and he wasn't going to ignore them.

Ein took off towards the smoke catching Ed by surprise, "Hey! Ein waaaaiiiiiiit!" she called as she chased after him. Ein and Ed quickly arrived at the source of the smoke being a large windowless building; it didn't take a genius to figure out it was on fire. A large crowd was gathering around the building as sirens from the fire department could be heard in the distance while the ISSP tried to keep the crowd back and under control.

Ein and Ed slipped through the crowd as an officer questioned one of the bystanders, "Did you see anyone go in there?" he asked. The bystander nodded, "Yeah; this green haired guy chased someone into the building and the next thing I knew, it was on fire!" he said.

Ein caught those words in his ears and realized what had happened; the bounty Spike was chasing had been known to burn what he destroyed and now Spike was probably caught in that building, he could feel it! His suspicion was confirmed when his nose picked up Spike's familiar scent leading into the building; he knew Spike hadn't left because his scent wasn't anywhere else nearby and no further destruction could be heard throughout the city.

Ein looked ahead as the main entrance was nearly blocked off by falling debris; instinct took over and Ein bolted towards the entrance. Ed ducked past the officers and ran after the Corgi, "Eeeeeeein come back to Eeeeeeed!" she called while the officers chased after them. Ein picked up his speed and ran into the building before more debris completely blocked the entrance; Ein looked at the blocked exit and headed further into the burning building following Spike's scent. No turning back now!

Meanwhile, Ed had been escorted away from the building by the ISSP and was on her transmitter in an instant to call Jet and tell him what was going on; hopefully they would be here soon.

* * *

Ein followed the scent faster than ever as he was lead up multiple stairs and hallways. By the time he was midway up the building he could hear someone coughing in the distance; it was Spike, it had to be! Ein let out a few barks and followed the coughing until he came to another hallway; Spike was stumbling down it, holding his side and still coughing roughly from the thick smoke building up in the air.

Ein's small size had allowed him to breathe in smoke-free air for the most part, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before he couldn't breathe either; speaking of which, his mouth seemed to be feeling quite dry. Ein barked and Spike looked up to see the small dog running towards him, "Ein?" he asked in disbelief; Ein jumped towards him, forcing Spike to catch him.

Ein was glad to see the Spike was safe but Spike didn't seem too thrilled, "What the hell are you doing here you stupid mutt!?" he asked angrily holding the dog at arm's length; honestly, of all the places Ein could've been, how and why the hell was Ein _here_? Ein barked saying, _'I'm helping you, jackass!' _But of course it was lost in translation.

Spike didn't have time to tell off the dog because the ceiling above them was caving in fast. Still holding Ein, Spike ran from the hallway and made to run down the stairs but they were stopped by a pillar of flames appearing and cutting them off. The entire ceiling of the hallway began to fall including above them so Spike had no choice; he catapulted over the railing at the last second landing on the next floor down but his uneasy breathing from the smoke and his burn injury caused him to fall to his knees in another coughing fit.

Ein squirmed out of Spike's grasp and quickly looked around, smelling for a clearer way out of the building. Ein smelled a faint trace of it through a nearby hallway and barked to get Spike's attention. Spike, who was now on all fours trying to support his weight as he coughed, looked at the dog who was gesturing down the next hallway.

Ein then, out of the corner of his eye, spotted a piece of cut wire on the ground and picked it up. He dropped on end in front of Spike and held the other end in his mouth before gesturing to the hallway again. Spike picked up the wire and understood what Ein was trying to say; he hated to admit it, but he was going to need Ein's keen senses to get out of this alive, "Alright," he said getting shakily to his feet, "Lead the way Ein."

Ein lead Spike as fast as he could through the winding hallways and staircases that weren't full of flames; Spike continued to cough from the smoke which urged Ein to hurry and find an exit. Ein's lungs were starting to feel heavy as the smoke drew lower to the ground; he and Spike wouldn't last much longer at this rate.

Spike on the other hand wasn't looking too good; it hurt to breathe and his eyes became half-lidded. His burn injury stung as he ran but he tried his best to ignore it as Ein pulled him through the building. At long last, they reached the ground floor and Ein stopped to look around only to see Spike fall to the ground.

Ein ran over to him; his face was very pale and his breathing was getting very shallow, coughing almost every other breath. Ein ran over to the blocked exit where he came in, but there was no way through it. That was when a glint of sunlight caught the dog's eye and he ran over to it; a ventilation system, and it lead outside!

Ein ran back over to Spike and pulled on his shirt collar to pull him over to the vent. Spike managed to get on all fours and moved slowly over to the place where Ein was leading him but he could barely keep his eyes open. His chest felt heavy and his vision was starting to blur; he could barely make out Ein pawing the grate to the vent system off before he fell to the ground again.

Ein saw his lack of movement and ran over to him; he licked his face and pulled at his shirt collar again trying to rouse him but it was no use. "Ein…" Spike said hoarsely, the coughing finally taking a toll on his voice, "There's nothing you can do…" _'No, don't say that!' _Ein thought frantically. "Just get out of here…now…" Spike said, trying to talk louder to get his point across; he could tell that Ein was starting to get affected by the smoke; he may hate the mutt but something inside him didn't want the little guy to die here with him. Spike smirked a bit, "Gotta say…I wasn't expecting to go out in a fire," he said before coughing weakly again.

Ein whimpered softly due to more smoke beginning to enter his system and Spike waited for him to leave, but the dog did no such thing. Ein went over to the vent on shaky legs, not caring that the intense heat and smoke were starting to cloud his mind; Ein summoned all his leftover strength and began to bark into the vent. He stopped for a moment and waited for a response, but he got none so he kept barking only louder; he wasn't going to stop until he got a response, even if it killed him.

* * *

Outside the building, the firefighters were getting ready to burst in through the wall to the heart of the building to start putting out the fire. Jet and Faye had arrived on the scene and found Ed who frantically told them what happened to Ein, "Ein smelled Spike-person inside the building and _whoosh! _Ein ran inside!" was what they could make of the girl's babbling.

They tried to calm her down and think of a plan to possibly get Spike and Ein out of there when Ed heard a faint bark in the air. She strained her hearing and heard a series of barks coming from the building; a bark she knew anywhere. "Jet-person! Faye-Faye! I hear Ein!" she said. "What? Where?" Faye asked skeptically.

Jet tried to strain his hearing and just barely made out a few barks, "She's right, I hear him too!" he exclaimed. The barks seemed to grow a little louder and everyone began to hear it, "Everyone quiet down!" A firefighter yelled.

Silence fell over the crowd as they waited; and sure enough, more barks could be heard from the building, "Ein! It's Ein! He found Spike-person! He's okay!" Ed yelled happily, jumping up and down. The firefighters immediately ran towards the source of the noise with their equipment at the ready.

Ein panted heavily and coughed but let out one last bark before his poor lungs couldn't take it anymore. The last thing he saw before collapsing next to Spike was the bright sunlight and the voices of the firefighters coming towards them.

The next thing Spike remembered was seeing the sun blazing in his face. He was strapped to a stretcher and being wheeled towards an ambulance. He coughed slightly as the mask over his nose and mouth attempted to pump fresh air into his lungs. Through his weakened vision he spotted a firefighter jogging alongside the stretcher with an unmoving Ein in his arms.

Spike, for a split second, thought the worst when he heard a silent whine come from the dog. Ein was placed next to him on the stretcher as they were loaded into the ambulance. Spike managed to lift his hand ever so slightly to give Ein a small pat before the drugs from the ambulance entered his system and his vision went dark again.

* * *

A few hours later, Spike and Ein were both bandaged up and lying in a hospital bed; Spike had woken up to see Ein lying next to him with a look of concern on his face. The two stared at each other until Spike spoke up, "You know, you're probably the stupidest dog I ever met," he said with a slight frown, "You could've been killed running into that building like that."

Ein looked a little hurt and lowered his head slightly as if to say he was right but it was quickly diminished when Spike scratched Ein behind the ears, "But you saved my ass, so I guess I can't blame you too much," he said, "You're a lot smarter than I thought you were."

Ein's ears perked up in happiness at the compliment and immediately jumped up and began to lick Spike's face. Spike cried out in disgust and held Ein away from him at arm's length, "That doesn't mean you can drool all over me; damn mutt!" he said with a glare.

Ein smiled his doggy smile and Spike placed him on the bed again, "You stay there, got it?" he said. Ein let out a yawn and lay his chin on his paws; Spike was also feeling pretty sleepy too. He started to close his eyes but not before laying a hand on Ein's head; he had to admit, the dog had guts. What other dog would run head-long into a burning building to save someone, especially someone who didn't even like them?

Jet had talked a little about how loyal dogs are, but Spike had never taken it to thought…until now that is. Ein was not only smart; he was a brave little dog, _'Maybe pets aren't that bad,' _Spike said to himself before he and Ein went to sleep.

* * *

**I honestly think Spike would like Ein more if he gave him a chance to use his mad data dog skillz!**

**So what'd you think? Did I do decent job writing these guys?**

**Happy Spring and review plz!**


End file.
